The computer vision field is at a stage where complete systems are increasingly being developed and tested for a variety of real-world applications. Statistical estimation/classification methods are increasingly the choice for these systems. This is because they provide flexibility in modeling, performance characterization, validation and adaptation through sequential estimation.
The systems analysis phase of performance characterization has been studied to some degree in the literature. However, the systems design phase and the interaction between systems design, analysis, test, and re-design cycle has not been explored in great detail.
Referring to FIG. 1, the system design and analysis phases for a vision system are shown. The typical scenario in an industrial research and development unit developing vision systems is that a customer defines a system specification and its requirements (102). An engineer then translates these requirements to a system design (110) and validates that the system design meets the user-specified requirements. Further, the process usually involves creating a system configuration (120), analyzing and optimizing the system (130), and performing performance characterization (140).
The system requirements in the video analysis setting often involves the specification of the operating conditions, the type of sensors, the accuracy requirements, and the computational requirements to be met by the system. The main problem, however, is that there is no known systematic way for vision systems engineers to go about doing this translation of the systems requirements to a detailed design. It is still an art to engineer systems to meet given application specific requirements. There are two fundamental steps in the design process: the choice of the system architecture and the modules for accomplishing the task, and the statistical analysis and validation of the system to check if it meets user requirements. In real-life, the system design and analysis phases typically follow each other in a cycle until the engineer obtains a design and an appropriate analysis that meets the user specifications. Automation of the design process is a research area with many open issues, although there have been very limited studies in the context of image analysis (e. g., automatic programming). The systems analysis (performance characteristics) or evaluation phase for vision systems is an active area of research in the last few years.